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The under 16’s AW Green Shield competition played one final game before the Christmas break, and it was the bowlers who claimed the bragging rights heading into the holiday season.

The pick of the bunch was Gordon’s Will Rogers. Having been sent in to bat first by Hawkesbury at Killara Oval Gordon managed to scrap their way to 140 before being dismissed in the final over. But the relatively small total proved to be more than enough for the home side. Rogers led the way with the new ball taking figures of 6-14 from just five overs. Four of Rogers’ wickets resulted in golden ducks in what was a memorable day for the opening bowler who also chimed in with a run out in the field to almost single-handedly gift his team a monumental 102-run bonus point victory.

Joining Rogers in the six-wicket club for round three was Sydney University’s Luca Dimeglio. Fairfield-Liverpool began their innings steadily with a 49-run opening stand. However, Dimeglio helped put the brakes on the innings with 6-31 from 8.5 overs to restrict the visitors to 131, which the Sydney University’s batsman chased with ease in the 40th over to win by six wickets.

Despite falling just short of their five-wicket milestones, some bowlers still produced match-winning bowling performances. Parramatta’s Blair Overton came away with what was arguably the most damaging spell of bowling in the competition this season. From his six-over spell, Overton took four wickets while only conceding two runs. Bankstown was never able to recover as they were removed for 91 in pursuit of Parramatta’s 9-195.

North Sydney’s captain Ammar Shirazi also claimed 4-22 in his ten over spell against the University of New South Wales. Having limited the home side to 7-170 Shirazi continued to lead the way with the willow blasting a quick-fire 38 from just 25 deliveries finding the fence on seven occasions. Shirazi’s innings combined with Charlie Rose (41), and Joseph Liddle (33) helped North Sydney coast to a three-wicket victory.

Rounding out the round’s bowling performances is Eastern Suburbs’ Alex Van Vugt. In pursuit of Eastern Suburbs’ total of 169, Mosman appeared to have the upper hand with the score on 4-121. But when they began chasing quick runs in the late stages of the match, their innings began to fall apart. Van Vugt was the bowler to capitalise on Mosman’s troubles taking four of the final six wickets in a collapse that saw Mosman lose 6-13. Van Vugt’s 4-29 got his side over the line by just eight runs.

Only three batsmen were able to raise their bat in round three. Manly-Warringah middle-order batsman Hilton Ovenden compiled 93 from 124 deliveries against St George. Ovenden’s innings was the only thing separating the two sides on the day as St George fell just two runs shy of Manly Warringah’s 172.

Blacktown’s wicket-keeper batsman Dhruv Kant scored an unbeaten 66 against Penrith at Howell Oval in his team’s successful run chase. Sutherland’s captain Dylan Holdstock posted his second consecutive half-century of the competition. His 52 at the top of the order paved the way for his side who chased Western Suburbs 163 with seven wickets in hand.